As most know, the US has often been referred to as the “melting pot.” I’ve heard college students and young “pundits” ardently decry and dispute that. They claim the US has perennially been and is a closed colonial society exclusionary to other nationalities. I’d say there might be some uninformed and misplaced anger there.
A glance at the current slate of candidates for state or national positions is pretty solid evidence. Black and Hispanic candidates are well represented on the ballots. So too for many with Indian or Asian heritage. Moreso, women are abundantly included.
One need look no further than the presidential race. With Joe Biden stepping aside, Kamala Harris has stepped in. Her unique first name should be the first clue. Said to be the first Black woman or Asian woman candidate, her heritage is a blend of Jamaican and Indian. The ancestry of Donald Trump is Scottish and German. His wife Melania was born in Slovenia – only the second First Lady to have been born outside the US and the first to have become a Naturalized Citizen....
Further proof of US diversity is on the daily mail or in pocket change. Our stamps and coins are vehicles showcasing the blend of sexes and multitude of races we embody.
In just the past two years, diverse luminaries along with relative unknowns have appeared on many US postage stamps. A recent postal sampling includes Black achievers: Hank Aaron, Constance Baker Motley, John Lewis, Toni Morrison and Ernest Gaines. Add to that writer Saul Bellow, Chief Standing Bear, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, WWII Japanese American soldiers, Mariachi bands, the Title IX amendment, Navaho jewelry, women’s soccer, the Underground Railroad and on and on. Unquestionably, the USPS is prominently promoting the multiplicity that personifies the US.
Our earliest paper money depicted a famous woman – Martha Washington. In 1886, Martha was the first (and, so far only) woman to grace the primary portrait on US paper money. American Indian princess Pocahontas was also depicted on an 1865 $20 note but her image was comparatively minor.
In the near future, reliable conjecture has it that Harriet Tubman and opera singer Marian Anderson will be making appearances on currency including the $5.00 and $20.00 bills.
In the meantime, the current American Women Quarters Program has just released the newest 2024 coin featuring the “Queen of Salsa,” Celia Cruz. A celebrated Cuban-American singer/dancer, Cruz was renowned in the 1950s and ‘60s as a leading Salsa music performer. Her image was earlier featured on a 2011 “Hispanic Heritage” postage stamp. Now, she appears on the new quarter beside her catch-phrase word, “Azucar!” – Spanish for “sugar.”
Concurrently highlighted on the latest “American Innovation” golden dollar coin is Black inventor George Washington Carver. Born into slavery in the micro town of Diamond, Missouri, Carver advanced himself through education. His learned knowledge of agriculture was critical in helping save the South’s agrarian economy.
After the abolishment of slavery, many blacks became small-scale farmers. Their lack of agricultural knowledge led many to struggle on nutrient-depleted lands due to no crop rotation.
Carver created an agricultural school and traveling laboratory in a wagon visiting black farms and distributing informational pamphlets throughout the South. He helped many small farmers substantially improve yields, bolster profits and save their farms. Most notably, he did extensive research on the peanut where he developed more than 300 products and uses for it.
In the 1940s and ‘50s, the US Mint struck millions of silver half-dollar coins commemorating Carver along with Black educator Booker T. Washington. They are still some of the favorite, and quite valuable, collectibles for coin collectors.
In 2021, six percent of the US population was Asian; 12.6 percent was Black; and 19 percent Hispanic. The diversity continues. If the current slate of coins celebrating Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and women, along with a spate of postage stamps promoting the same, is indicative of the obvious, those youthfully “progressive” naysayers of diversity will need to consider changing their narrative.
In 2024, with coins, stamps and currency acting as a gauge, the melting pot in the US is robust and bubbling, particularly for collectors.
For more collecting information and advice, log on to: http://prexford.com/.